User and Data Folders

Sys Files

• wiitdb-*.txt: Gamecube and Wii language-specific title databases from GameTDB
• totaldb.dsy: Database of symbols (for devs only)
• GC/font_western.bin: font dumps
• GC/font_japanese.bin: font dumps
• GC/dsp_coef.bin: DSP dumps
• GC/dsp_rom.bin: DSP dumps

The DSP dumps included with Dolphin have been written from scratch and do not contain any copyrighted material. They should work for most purposes, however some games implement copy protection by checksumming the dumps. You will need to dump the DSP files from a console and replace the default dumps if you want to fix those issues.

Wii network certificates must be extracted from a Wii IOS. A guide for that can be found here.

Folder Structure

These folders are installed read-only and should not be changed:

• GameSettings: per-game default settings database
• GC: DSP and font dumps
• Maps: symbol tables (dev only)
• Shaders: post-processing shaders
• Themes: icon themes for GUI
• Resources: icons that are theme-agnostic
• Wii: default Wii NAND contents

Packaging and udev

The Data folder contains a udev rule file for the official GameCube controller adapter and the Mayflash DolphinBar. Package maintainers can use that file in their packages for Dolphin. Users compiling Dolphin on Linux can also just copy the file to their udev rules folder.

User Folder Structure

A number of user writeable directories are created for caching purposes or for allowing the user to edit their contents. The current user folder can be opened by going to "File" -> "Open User Folder".

On macOS and Linux, these folders are stored in ~/Library/Application Support/Dolphin/ and ~/.dolphin-emu respectively, but can be overridden by setting the environment variable DOLPHIN_EMU_USERPATH.

On Windows, the user directory is stored in the roaming AppData folder by default. Prior to #10708, the user directory was stored in the My Documents folder. If a user directory exists at the old location, Dolphin will continue to use it to preserve backwards compatibility. The user directory can also be overridden via registry keys:

• If the registry string value LocalUserConfig exists in HKEY_CURRENT_USER/Software/Dolphin Emulator and has the value 1, Dolphin will always start in portable mode.
• If the registry string value UserConfigPath exists in HKEY_CURRENT_USER/Software/Dolphin Emulator, the user folders will be stored in the directory given by that string. The other two methods will be prioritized over this setting.

On Windows and macOS, creating a file called portable.txt next to the Dolphin executable / app will force Dolphin to run in portable mode. While in portable mode, the user directory will be stored in a local directory called User next to the Dolphin executable / app.

List of user folders:

• Cache: used to cache the ISO list
• Config: configuration files
• Dump: anything dumped from Dolphin
• GameSettings: additional settings to be applied per-game
• GBA: GBA saves
• GC: memory cards and system BIOS
• Load: custom textures
• Logs: logs, if enabled
• Maps: Symbol maps generated by Dolphin
• ResourcePacks: A way of managing custom textures, separate from the Load directory
• ScreenShots: screenshots taken via Dolphin
• Shaders: post-processing shaders
• StateSaves: save states
• Styles: color themes for GUI
• Themes: icon themes for GUI
• Wii: Wii NAND contents

Custom Textures (Not Resource Packs)

Custom textures have to be placed in the user directory under Load/Textures/[GameID]/. You can find the Game ID by right-clicking a game in the ISO list and selecting "ISO Properties".